Don’t write off Rite Aid just yet

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT These days Rite Aid comes with the image of a pugilist sprinting up the 72 steps before the Philadelphia Museum of Art with both arms raised high. Because if Rite Aid were a movie, right now it’d be in the midst of its own montage.

Yes, Rite Aid’s revenues are down even a bit more than many analysts had expected. And yes, Rite Aid is projecting at the outset a net loss by fiscal year-end 2011. But there is a lot of upside to Rite Aid in the coming year.

For starters, the chain is entering fiscal 2011 with a strong liquidity position, a factor that helps the chain keep swinging for opportunities. It’s what enables the chain to pursue initiatives like its Wellness-plus loyalty card program; or to triple the number of qualified immunizing pharmacists across Rite Aid’s workforce to 6,000 by cough/cold/flu 2010/2011 — both initiatives highlighted by Rite Aid executives during their March 31 conference call.

Rite Aid perhaps is making its biggest push behind its new loyalty card program this year, which is expected to launch chain wide later this summer. It’s a loyalty program that’s successfully made the chain’s existing customer base more productive across its four test markets — enticing many pharmacy patients to shop more often across the front-end, for example. John Standley, Rite Aid president and COO, noted that Rite Aid will be blasting that program out with the biggest marketing push it’s made in some time. That kind of big splash will help the Wellness-plus program cut through and distinguish itself from the multitude of loyalty cards already on the market — CVS’ ExtraCare, Duane Reade (a.k.a. Walgreens New York) and their recently revitalized loyalty program and the myriad of supermarket loyalty programs across the country that shoppers carry on their key chains.

At the end of the day, Rite Aid is in a block and tackle mode; or in other words, a movie montage where the protagonist only gets stronger. Because barring any real upsets and/or changes in marketplace dynamics, Rite Aid should be in a better position by this time next year. Short term might look challenging, but Rite Aid is still a favorite for later rounds.

Lilly’s Gemzar patent upheld

INDIANAPOLIS A court has upheld Eli Lilly’s patent on an injected drug for treating cancer, the drug maker announced Thursday.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana upheld the validity of Lilly’s compound patent on Gemzar (gemcitabine hydrochloride), maintaining the company’s U.S. exclusivity for the drug through Nov. 15, blocking Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ attempt to market a generic version.

A second patent for the drug, which would have expired in 2013 and covered the drug’s Food and Drug Administration-approved uses, was ruled invalid by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in a separate case. Because Lilly has appealed the Michigan court’s decision, the Indiana court ruled that Lilly could not enforce the 2013 patent in the Indiana case.

“We are pleased with the court’s ruling upholding the validity of Gemzar’s compound patent and remain optimistic that a successful appeal of the Michigan decision on the Gemzar method-of-use patent will retain U.S. exclusivity for Gemzar into 2013,” Lilly SVP and general counsel Robert Armitage said. “Protection of intellectual property rights is extremely important to the biopharmaceutical industry and the physicians and patients we serve, as these rights help support the development of the next generation of innovative medicines to treat unmet medical needs.”

Walgreens specialty pharmacy to share its space in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO Walgreens plans to share some of the space for its specialty pharmacy in San Francisco’s Castro district with a local museum, according to published reports.

The Bay Area Reporter, a gay and lesbian newspaper, reported Thursday that Walgreens would expand its specialty pharmacy into one-third of a former laundromat next door while leasing the other two-thirds to the GLBT Historical Society for five years at a reduced rent rate. The museum plans to open in June.

According to the article, Walgreens will pay for the remodeling of the space and seek city permits while using its third of the space for infusion therapy. The pharmacy originally had planned to take over the entire space, but the city government declined to give it a permit, and local business had complained that it would give the pharmacy too large a footprint in the neighborhood.

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